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County adapting to meet provincial standards, resident needs

Foothills County Reeve Suzanne Oel said council is adapting its meeting style to accommodate provincial recommendations and will temporarily eliminate penalties on late utility and tax payments.
Suzanne Oel 0482
Foothills County Reeve Suzanne Oel said council is adapting its meeting style to accommodate provincial recommendations and will temporarily eliminate penalties on late utility and tax payments. (BRENT CALVER/Western Wheel)

County officials are trying to find a solution to holding public meetings while maintaining social distancing measures.

Reeve Suzanne Oel said council met on March 25 during its regularly-scheduled time, but with a few key differences to align with recommendations from Alberta Health Services and the provincial government.

“We had the majority of people call in,” said Oel. “We had our departments call in to the meeting and we social-distanced, so we had a few people there and the majority calling in.”

She added the County has cancelled all public hearings for the time being, so there was no reason for residents to attend and no members of the general public were in the meeting.

The County made the move to close facilities, including the municipal building, Scott Seaman Sports Rink and the Crescent Point Field House the week before. Its greatest concern for the time being is how council business meetings will be conducted moving forward, said Oel.

Working within the confines of the Municipal Government Act (MGA) was the biggest hurdle. Until March 27, council would be permitted to have its meeting via teleconference or videoconference, but would be expected to have a location with a County representative present where the public could attend if anyone chose, she said.

However, as of 3 p.m. on March 27, the MGA made the following change to that policy in an update sent to municipalities: "During the COVID-19 health emergency, section 199 of the MGA has been modified so the public and the CAO do not need to be physically in attendance provided there is an electronic means that permits the meeting to be heard as it occurs."

At this time Foothills County council has cancelled its weekly meetings and will not sit officially again until April 15, said Oel. That shouldn’t change despite any allowances made by the Province.

“I think we’ll still stick with our plan,” said Oel. “We’re working with our technology and by then (April 15) we should be able to have a completely remote meeting, and establish the component of public attendance as per the new guidelines for Alberta.

“It looks like they’re being responsive. They’re going to tighten things up a little more and yet finally give us the needed change so we can follow the things they’re imposing on us or really asking us to follow.”

The County has also opted to temporarily remove all two per cent late penalties on utility payments, and the six per cent late payment penalty on property taxes (due Sept. 30), she said.

“We encourage people to keep caught up on their payments, but recognize they need extra time and we hope this helps,” said Oel.

“We wish everyone well during these challenging times and we thank our council and staff for their response.”

Krista Conrad, OkotoksToday.ca

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